Combined planter and potato digger



July 3, 1928.

'J.'DOROSK] COMBINED PLANTER AND POTATO DIGGER Filed Feb. 18, 1927 2 Sheets- Sheet 1' Inventor c/0777V fiorasia',

Attorn qy -J. DOROSKI COMBINED PLANTER AND POTATO DIGGER July 3, 1928.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 18, 1927 Irnentor a arwin;

, Q By Amrnqy Patented July 3,

NITED iT-Ar;

I i 301-111"DOROSiH;QIf-GALVERTONj unwyonxa COMBINEDJ rran'rs mirm izomn'ro iDIGGERi Application fiIedvFelii'uarylS;1927i jseri aiiven169,303: i

This.inventioirrelates to new and a useful;

1 improvements in agricultural machinery, and

hasparticularreference to a combined potato digger andgrain seed planter.

The primary object of the invention resides'in the provision of a generally conventional'design of wheeled potato digger-that is-equipped with aplanting; .mechanism whereby-v a: planting operationmay be performed simultaneously with the potato, digging operation for thussre ducing the amount oflabor-Iusu-ally required in performing the two-operations A ifurther-object of theinvention resides in'the provision of: a machine ofthis-chan acter wherein means isprovided for facilitat dug the. raising ofjthe digger and for smuttaneou'slycutting. out the operation-0f the I box. are of convergiitg:relatiom the point of vplanting. mechanism so that the machine may 'be' moved over the ground without'the potato diggingunit coming. into contact therewith ;andywithout the discharging of the seed from the-"planting mechanisms {jconstrructionyi claimed;

,A final salientobject resides in the provision ofia'con bi-nedagricultural machine of this-character that isq-unusuallysimple of and :onethat may be readily operated for the pur oses intended: r l ith the foregoing anl otherr ob ects in view-1 21's the nature of the inventioni-will be the; novel form, combinationfand' arrangement of shown in theaccomp anying drawings and In the drawings wherein. like reference characters indicate correspondingparts through the several views: I

Figure lt s a side elevation of my improved machineli v Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof.

Figure '3 is a detail enlarged longitudinal 1 section through the seed box. I, V

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary View partly in cross sectionfor more clearly disclosing the clutch mechanism of the plant- ,ing device operable simultaneously with the raising and lowering ofthe digger unit, and

Figure 5 is a transverse section through i the planter box. I v o Now having-particular reference to the drawings,

conventional potato digging unit 5 having the usual digging point 6 upon the lower end thereof. This unit being pivotally mounted wheels13 13. f v I i "Mountedupon the 'drawbar 9 is atransinexpensive I of; inanu facturai fully described".

at predetermined set position.

my novel machine consists of a ventional traction wheels 8'8.i Thedevice .further consistsof a horizontal longitudiiially extending short: draw bar 9 to the forwardendof' which is pivotally secured in the conventional manner asdraft tongue 1O ,..supp,orted by; the usual depend-ingbol-ef ster 11 that carries an axle: 12upon the ends which: are mounted front supporting of p verse seed box l l open at its topsideaan'dig within which is normally disposed a lid" 15.

This box is adapted tobe fi-lledwithsmall" seeds such as for instance grain mixed'with a suitable amount of soil.

The major: areaflof thesidewalls of this l m ergence 7 thereofbeing of rounded; contour. as disclosedin Figure 5,' and formed with seed discharge openingsas clearly: disclosed" iii-liligure 3. Suitably'journaledthroughithe I 5 tends througlrthe box for-provi'dinga stub shaft "17 Freely: arranged upon this stub shaft 17 is a sprocketgear ls having. a clutch collar 19-" atlthejouter surface thereof which collar is formed with a circumferential channel 20. K eyed: to the end-of the stub, shaft l collar 19 is mov i t engagement there; with the fsprocketv gear 18 will be k d to the shaft. J a a 7:

small sprocket gear22 over which is trained an :endless chain 23 j that extends forwardly audis in turn trained over the sprocket gear 18. o

Rigidlysecured to the-drawbart) backi ofthe planter box'lt is a toothedsegment- 24 to the bottom of which ispivota-llysea cured a vertical hand lever 25 carrying the usual spring detent 26 for engagement withthe teeth of'tliesegment to maintain thelever -Pivotally secured to the'lever 25 adjacent its lower pivotal endis a forwardly extending arm 27 that is preferably formed inte gr ally with the adjacent end of a horizontally disposed bell crank 28 pivoted as at 29 to the back ofjtlie planter box l l'directly adjacent the sprocket gear carrying end as f more clearly disclosed in Figure 4:.' The outer arm of this hell crank 28'extends for-V wardly and is formed with a yoke 30 for engagement over the clutchcollar 19 of the sprocket gear 18 and the arms of which are formed with inwardly projecting pins 313l for engagement within the channel 20 of said'clutch collar. Obviously, a movement of the lever in a rearward direction will :so swing the bell crank 28 upon its pivot to cause'the nward movement of the gear 18 .and clutch collar 19 so asto free the same from the clutch unit 21.

liigidly secured to the potato digging uni 5 at opposite sides thereofare the converging goose necks 32-32, theends of which extend-inwardly beyond the adjacent .end of the draw bar 9, and to which ends are secured the ends of a U-shaped hanger that extendsabove. the draw bar 9 and that "is connected to a forwardly extending short to'raise the digging unit 5 it is only necessary to draw rearwardly upon the hand lever which will simultaneously cause the actuation of the bell crank 28 to move the clutch collar 19 away from the clutch unit Qlfor cutting out the operation of the planting mechanism. It will be understood of course i by the operation of the dispenser or agitator that the ground or soil has been worked or dug up by the digging point 6 of the potato diggingunit 5 to unearth the potatoes, and

this uplifted soil will cover the seed planted 16 when coupledto the axle operated shaft 17 by properly actuating the clutch members. As the small seeds fall into the loose. soil they will be covered thereby, and by the soil mixed with the seeds in the box. The few seeds still remaining uncovered may also be covered by the person following the machine for collecting the potatoes'dug up.

In view of the foregoing description when considered intonjunction with the accompanying drawing it is believed that the operation and advantagesof a device of this charactor will at once be appreciated by those skilled in the art, and even though I have herein shown and described the invention as consisting of certain detail structural elements it is nevertheless to be understood that some "changes may be made therein'without aftecting the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what lclaimis:- I V In a combined potato digger and grain seed planter, a wheel supported axle, a potato digging unit mounted upon the axle and adapted for vertical swlnglng movement, a w

heel supported it ame arranged forwardly o" and above the digging unit, a-plantin'g 'ieehanism arranged upon the frame and in-,

cluding driven means for causing the'dischargeof the grain seed'in advance of the uplifting of the soil bysaid diggingunit, a driving connectlon between said driven means and the wheel axle, a lever pivoted at r lower end portion onsaid wheel supported frame, means for operatively connecting the pivoted end of the lever withthe digging unit at the forward end thereof for raising and lowering the digging unit, and additional means for operatively connecting the lever with the aforesaid driven means to effect asimultaneous operation of said'driven means with the actuation of the raising and lowering of the digging unit, said first mentioned. means comprising a pair of converging goose necks secured at their lower diverg- Ting ends tothe digging unit a U-shaped hanger connected. to the converging ends of the goose necks, and a'laterally ext-ending arm formedon the .lower' end of the lever and to which thecrown portion. of said U- shaped hanger is attache v lin testimony whereof I afiiX my signature.

JOHN 1DOROSKI. p: 

